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Volume 3, Issue 5: June 27, 2005

Communications / Excellence in Education Committee

1. Marion Drysdale Awards

District 11 had two provincial winners in the Marion Drysdale Awards competition. Nancy Taylor, a student at Woodstock and District Developmental Services, won the Prose or Poetry Category 6 - Adult Learner for her essay titled “Why Can’t I Learn?”. Stephen Benaway from A.B. Lucas Secondary School is the other provincial winner. His essay entitled “Through My Father’s Eyes” was voted top in the Prose or Poetry Category 3 - Grade 11 or 12 University. Each of these winners received a $300 cheque and a trip to Toronto for the awards presentation ceremony at AMPA on March 14, 2005.

Congratulations to our Provincial Marion Drysdale winners and to their teachers - Dianne Ward and Peter Luscombe - and thank you to the members of the CEE committee who volunteered to judge the school level entries and chose the District level winners: Barb O’Brien, Joan Dinardo, Don Edgar, Dale McEwen and Wendy Hirschegger. Your time and efforts were greatly appreciated.

2. Bishop Townshend Awards of Educator Excellence

Thirty-two District 11 members were recognized as Bishop Townshend Award winners at the awards dinner held at the Grosvenor on February 23, 2005. District 11 thanks Val Cavalini, Bishop Townshend Award Chair, for a very special and well organized evening. For a list of individual Award winners please visit the District 11 website and refer to the February 25, 2005 issue of Education Matters Online.

3. Annual Retirement Dinner

Plans are well under way for the District 11 Annual Dinner to be held at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in London on June 15, 2005. Work is being completed also on the 2004-2005 Retirement Booklet. The booklet is distributed to each retiring member as a memento of the evening and will include a profile and picture of each retiree.

Submitted by Nancy McDougall, Federation Services Officer Liaison

Educational Services Committee

1. Individual P.D. Funding Assistance

The Educational Services Committee allocated $5,500 of its budget to support members in pursuit of individual professional development opportunities. Forty-five members were provided with individual funds ranging from $62.50 to $125.00 each in order to attend conferences. The committee reviews the disbursement rules each year in an effort to ensure as equitable access as possible for members.

2. Stars and Beyond Conference

OSSTF’s Stars and Beyond Conference was attended by nineteen District 11 members. The Educational Services Committee accessed funds through the Provincial 2010 account. Members was then reimbursed an amount that equaled at least half the cost of their conference registration fees.

District 11 was proud to have three members presenting at the Stars and Beyond conference: Maureen Weller, Ray Hughes, and Marlies Sudermann, and Ray Hughes.

3. Local P.D. Session

The District 11 Educational Services and Human Right/Status of Women committees jointly sponsored the Bullying: Make It Stop workshops that were held on May 5, 2005 at the Delta Armouries Hotel in London. Workshops and presenters included: Harassment in the Workplace - Jane Hulme, OSSTF Provincial Office; Gender Orientation Bullying - Rich Hitchens, Association for the Elimination of Hate; Girl Bullying - Ray Hughes, National Education Coordinator of the Fourth R Project; Race Relations and Self-Image - Leroy Hibbert, LUSO Community Services.

Fifty-five District 11 members attended the workshops and dinner at the Delta Armouries and all comments were positive. Our thanks go out to those committee members involved in the planning of the evening: Kathy Wildfong, Bryan Smith, Joe Mountenay, Don Edgar, Heather Reid, Jennifer Hillis, Sandra Miller, Keith Falconer and Carolyn Gaskin.

Submitted by Kathy Wildfong, Committee Chairperson and Nancy McDougall, Federation Services Officer Liaison 

Human Rights and Status of Women Committee

The Human Rights and Status of Women Committee continued to
1. express its solidarity with women through

1.1 support of the OSSTF Common Threads project on the Sweatshop Labour document produced last year by Provincial and piloted in the District
1.2 the provision of additional resources surrounding Sweatshop Labour and women in maquilas from a variety of sources
1.3 active promotion of White Ribbon and Red Rose campaigns in additional branches than last year intended to ask men to commit to active prevention of violence toward women and to ask women to remember the victims, and moreover, both men and women to engage young people in activities leading to an understanding of the way in which misogyny led to the Montreal massacre and continues to be a menace to a fair and equitable society.
1.4 the donation of White Ribbon campaign proceeds to first and second-stage shelters and housing in various centres in the District.

2. provide district members with tools for understanding how they can take action as individuals as members of branches, and in their interventions and programs with teens through

2.1 providing workshops on Take More Action where Marc and Craig Kielburger’s model of group action is laid out step-by-step
2.2 distributing additional resources
2.3 delivering self and mutual education
2.4 distributing additional copies of the Common Threads resource package on Sweatshop Labour

3. Raise awareness of the plight of educators and other union activists in Colombia through

3.1 updates on the situation there
3.2 liaison with Peace Brigades International
3.3 distribution on a loan basis of a new CLC resource about Colombia

4. Monitor Board policy, practice and initiatives against hatred targeting various groups of students

New initiatives were notable too. They were

1. to support the action of the Stephen Lewis Foundation through

1.1 a presentation of the interim report on the OSSTF fact-finding mission on HIV/AIDS in South Africa
1.2 the distribution of literature from several campaigns against the transmission of HIV/AIDS world-wide

1.3 an examination of the alarming similarity of attitudes to HIV/AIDS transmission and of behaviours that could lead to an Ontario epidemic among youth
1.4 piloting, in multiple sites, of the draft OSSTF document in order to provide early opportunities for our members to engage in this debate, to provide warning to adolescents and to provide verification for the provincial writing team.

2. to collaborate with the Education Services Committee to develop, offer and support

1.1 a supper seminar on four bullying issues, one per workshop
1.2 the distribution of resources surrounding bullying, human rights and equity issues
1.3 networking for members with outside agencies on bullying issues

Submitted by Bryan Smith, Committee Chairperson and Mary Lou Cunningham, Federation Services Officer Liaison

District Collective Bargaining

The four Bargaining Units are at various stages in terms of collective bargaining.

• The Secondary Teachers’ Bargaining Unit has ratified a new collective agreement which will be in force until August 31, 2008. Appendix F (Continuing Education Teachers) will be completed as part of the TBU agreement as soon as the funding for Continuing Education is released by the government.

• The Occasional Teachers’ Bargaining Unit negotiations will be completed very soon also, now that the Secondary Teachers' agreement is ratified.

• The Continuing Education Instructors’ Bargaining Unit has also been operating without a contract since September 01, 2004. The Table Team has met with the Board eight (8) times. Negotiations have stalled and the Unit is considering ways to resolve the issues that have emerged in bargaining.

• The PSSP Bargaining Unit’s contract expires on August 31, 2005. The Unit is currently preparing their brief. “Notice to Bargain” will be issued in June. Nancianne Speare from the provincial office has been assigned to assist with negotiations.

Submitted by John Bernans. Federation Services Officer

Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

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